The Birth of Quint
by Deltoran Merchant
Summary: A short-story showing a more detailed look at the time when Mega Man became Quint. It ties into Mega Man's Awakening to an extent, but I'm not saying how. At any rate come read and see how the peaceful Rock became the evil Quint.


**Birth of Quint**

Rock sighed as he finished his morning chores. It was a happy sigh. It had been almost two years since he'd last had to don his Mega Man outfit and fire his buster. After his last battle with Dr. Wily the evil scientist seemed to have genuinely reformed, or at least given up on world conquest. Instead he got to do things he liked, and wear simple jeans and blue t-shirt, and today it was going to the park with Rush, Cut Man and Ice Man.

The front door of the house opened as Rock left the lab, telling Dr. Light where he was going, and Cut Man and Ice Man appeared at the top of the stairs. "There you are Mr. Rock," Cut Man said. "We got to leave work early, just like we promised."

"Actually sir I haven't really had much work recently," Ice Man said sheepishly.

"That's fine Ice Man," Dr Light said, coming up the stairs from his lab. "You go with Rock and have some fun."

"Yeah, I got a soccer ball and a frisbee for Rush," Rock said brightly. "Come on you two! I'll get Rush." He dashed out the back door and ran over to Rush's dog house. The robo-dog's dog house wasn't a wooden hut like real dogs had, but a large metal box with recharging rays on the inside and more than enough room for Rush. "Hey Rush! We're goin' to the park."

"Do you have the frisbee?" the robo-dog asked, emerging from the doghouse.

"Yup. Now come on."

"Yeah I'm comin'," Rush said, quickly falling into step next to his friend.

"You know you don't have to sleep out in that doghouse," Rock said.

"I like it, I asked for it to be made after all," Rush said, "And you complained about me taking up room on your bed."

"I'm kind of missing it now," Rock replied.

"I sneak in and join you sometimes," Rush said. "Is Roll coming with us?"

"No. I asked her and she said she had too much cleaning to do."

"Let me guess, your room?"

"My room isn't that messy," Rock protested as they entered the house again.

"Oh yes it is," Roll said, dusting off her hands. "Seriously Rock, how do you manage to live in that pig stye and yet be able to organize experiments?"

"I'm a lab assistant, it's my job," Rock argued.

"And I'm a cleaner. Look what I found in there! A half full E-Tank can," Roll said with disgust, holding out a slightly crumpled metal drink can with a bent straw in it.

"Oh that's where that went," Rock said, taking the can and sipping from the straw.

"You're so gross sometimes," Roll muttered.

"I think getting out of there was a good thing," Rush said as the group walked to the park, Rock still sipping from the E-Tank and holding a soccer ball under his arm.

"Yeah Roll looked like she was about to hit me with her broom," Rock replied, "I don't know what's wrong with my room. It's not messy, I just have stuff where I can see it."

"Like the E-Tank you lost sir?" Ice Man asked cheekily.

"Not lost, misplaced."

"Isn't that the same thing Mr. Rock?" Cut Man asked.

"Soldier says we're here sir," Ice Man said, pointing to the park.

"You don't have enough people for soccer," Rush said.

"Sure I do," Rock said, dashing into the park to a small field where a couple human kids, Rock's friends from school, were waiting. "Sorry it took so long guys," he said at last, "I had to wait for my brothers to get off work."

"It's fine," one of the boys said, "Let's get started!"  
>-<p>

Dr. Wily sighed behind his shop desk. This was no place for him. He was the great Dr. Wily, the most brilliant scientist in the world, and here he was running an electronics repair shop when he should be ruling the world. But Mega Man had beaten him one too many times and his black market suppliers had grown frustrated with his mounting debt.

"Not a single customer today either," the scientist muttered grumpily, his wild, bat-wing like hair and moustache having lost some of its form and being dressed in a business shirt and tie in lieu of the fancier outfits he'd been donning during his attempts at conquest. "Paying back a stupid debt, I should make a robot to kill them all instead of fixing other people's computers and pathetic excuses for robots."

He didn't even have Bass anymore. That android, being the disobedient imbecile he was, decided it would be a better idea to travel around the world and train himself to be strong enough to fight Mega Man. Wily hadn't seen him for eighteen months, though with Bass that wasn't particularly unusual. "Metool 23," Wily said, a robot like a walking hardhat waddled out of the back room in response. "Go make me a coffee, and be quick about it," he ordered the robot, which waddled off into another room.

The door jingled as it opened, signaling a customer walking in. "Welcome to Wily's Repairs," Dr. Wily started with boredom, "We take any job and repair any- good lord!" Dr. Wily almost fell out of his chair when he saw the 'customer'. It was, well, himself. From the wild hair to the lab coat, Dr. Wily was looking at himself.

"Greetings future me," the other Wily said.

"Oh that's right," Dr. Wily muttered. He'd forgotten that he'd once visited himself. In fact he was having a strong sense of deja vu since he remembered watching himself doing and saying the things he'd just done.

"So this is what happens to me in the future," the past Wily spat, looking around the shop. "I become a lowly merchant."

"Well not quite," the present Wily muttered. "But you'll find out why one day. How can I help my past plan for world domination?"

"In the ten years since my time period, what kind of technological breakthroughs have there been?" the Past Wily asked, "Or a development in robots. Anything I can use."

"Nothing in particular," the Present Wily said. "Well... I haven't fought Mega Man for two years."

"In two years! Am I really that willing to give up!"

"No, but I can't tell you why. But think about it, if Mega Man hasn't fought me for two years than what happened?"

"He placed his Mega Man functions on Sleep Mode?" the Past Wily said, sounding hopeful.

"Correct. Meaning he's easy pickings for kidnapping. I've even figured out how to make him turn on everything he believes, but I don't have any robots to help me do that."

"But I do. If I kidnap him, will you reprogram him?" the Past Wily asked.

"I would be delighted to, but on one condition. If our plan fails in the past than return him to me so I can use him here."

"Sounds like a fair deal, but don't get your hopes up."

"Then I will be waiting here."  
>-<p>

It wasn't really a very proper game of the soccer. The boys were more interested in seeing who could hold onto the ball the longest. Then Rock impressed them all by doing some tricks with the ball. Finally a stray kick caused the ball to soar right into one of Cut Man's blades, promptly bursting it and leading Cut Man to put his blades on the ground. "I guess we should have seen that coming sir," Ice Man said.

"I'm sorry Mr. Rock," Cut Man apologized.

"It's fine, I can patch it up later. I still got a frisbee," Rock said, grabbing the plastic disk. No sooner had he done so than he looked up to see a green buster pointed straight at him. A green buster attached to a basic looking humanoid robot with a green body, a SWAT shield and a staring red eye. There were screams behind him and he whirled to see Cut Man and Ice Man held at buster point as well. "Sniper Joes!" Rock cried, seeing his human friends held at gun point too.

"Yes Rock," said the all too familiar voice of Dr. Wily. Rock saw the scientist strolling towards him amidst the squadron of Joes. "And if you don't come with me then I will have them shoot everyone here."

"But, you..." Rock stuttered. However something was off about this Dr. Wily. He scanned the man and it came to him; this Wily was at least ten years younger than the one at the electronics shop. "Oh no," he gasped. He'd forgotten all about this, but if this was a Wily from ten years prior than it meant the time had come. "I'll come," he said, "Please don't harm anyone and I will come."

"Surprisingly easy, not so tough without your Mega Man side are you?" Dr. Wily said as a Sniper Joe chained Rock's wrists together.

"General Rock!" Ice Man shouted, trying to give chase when the Joes left their stations.

"No Ice Man!" Rock cried back. "This has to happen, everything will be fine." With this said Rock stepped into the now uncloaked, skull-masked Wily Machine, which promptly vanished again and a rush of wind signified that it had taken off. As it travelled Rock stayed silent in the small cargo bay. Rock had seen the stealth-jet shaped Time Skimmer on top of the Wily Machine, meaning it was indeed time.

A short flight later he was led quickly into Wily's Electronics. There behind the desk was his Wily, the one from the current time period. "I'll take it from here Past Wily," the Present Wily said, leading Rock through a couple back rooms and down into a basement. "There's a lucky reason I built my shop in this spot you know Rock," Dr. Wily said, moving a box in the basement to reveal a hidden keypad which he tapped in a code on.

A portion of the wall slid away to reveal an elevator. Wily shoved Rock on and pressed a button that made the elevator descend. Wily seemed almost ecstatic, while Rock felt worse than he'd ever felt in his entire life. The elevator stopped in an abandoned lab, well almost abandoned. The room was metal and almost the size of the school gymnasium. Despite many of the shelves being toppled or dusty there were two things that stood shiny and new. One was a clouded glass tube, though through the window of it Rock could vaguely see a red shape within. "Never you mind that," Wily said, roughly turning Rock's head.

Ahead Rock saw a sight that was much scarier. It was a large vat of a dark sludge looking material. Just looking at it made Rock's stomach turn and he wanted to run away, but Wily made sure he stayed looking at it. "Remember my experiments with Evil Energy Rock?" Wily asked, pressing some buttons on the side of the vat and pulling off Rock's clothes down to his boxers. "Well it left an interesting residue whenever it went through its mitosis. I found a way to liquidize this residue and now I give you Dark Extract!" 

"Why am I almost naked?" Rock asked, looking down at his athletic body and feeling humiliated.

"To see," Wily started, grabbing Rock and laying him into the dark sludge, "You squirm! And to ensure that the absorption goes perfectly."

Rock shuddered in the Dark Residue. It was chilly and made him feel sick and clammy. "What do you mean absorption?" Rock asked uncomfortably.

"My experiments show that any robot immersed in this substance will absorb it into their systems and have their worst emotions and traits become magnified to the point that they override their original personality."

"What! No! I thought I was just reprogrammed!" Rock cried.

"So did I, until now," Wily said, shoving Rock into the sludge and closing the vat. Rock screamed inside, but the residue swam around him, entering every pore and through his nostrils and mouth. Then he felt new feelings well up within him and grow. Anger, rage, hatred, he wanted to destroy things, he wanted to see others hurt, they're pain and misery.

He turned off the sleep mode on his Mega Man powers and let them boot up as he felt the residue finish its job. He couldn't remember why he was worried. In fact all the decisions he'd made in his life now seemed ludicrous. With all his strength he smashed the glass top of the vat and made sure to tear it apart in every way. "That felt good," Rock said as he climbed out of the vat.

He looked mostly the same as he'd always looked, but his eyes were now dark purple, almost black, and he wore a much more sinister expression on his face. Rock spread his arms and his armour appeared on his body. "Blue? Disgusting colour," Rock spat. "You! Wily! Do something about this."

"Who's the boss around here?" Wily asked indignantly.

"The one who can kill you in three seconds," Rock replied, "Now modify my outfit."

"I was going to anyways," Wily said with annoyance. He'd long ago made the outfit, in preparation for this day. Then he'd forgotten about it, but now he remembered and he hurried to grab it. When he returned with it he saw Rock messing up his hair to give it a more chaotic look. "Here we are," Wily said, holding up the green armour and plates. "It can bond to you on a molecular level, just like your old armour."

"Perfect," Rock said, letting Wily press a button on the helmet that caused the outfit to become a cloud of green particles that flew through the air and merged with his body. With a quick thought he changed from his blue outfit to the new one. A dark green helmet with a yellow v-shaped decoration on the front appeared on his head and similarly coloured plates on his arms and legs, while the rest of his body was garbed in a lighter green close-fitting suit, save a section around his waist and groin. A dark green v ran from one shoulder, down to the middle of his chest, and back up to his other shoulder. "It's missing something," he said. He lowered his basic visor and grinned as he put it into sun-shield mode, like sunglasses.

"Very fitting," Wily said, "At last Mega Man is on my side."

"Mega Man?" Rock said spitting the word like it tasted bad. "No, when I was Mega Man I was a wimp who didn't know how to use all my power. Call me... Quint, yeah I like the sound of that."

"Alright then Quint, we need to test your combat capabilities," Dr. Wily said, but looking around the dusty lab he remembered he had nothing. Well maybe... no, that would be too risky. That Bass would be the perfect practice target.

"Future Wily!" the Past Wily called from the shop above. "I would like my robot now."

"And I would like to get to fighting, so unless you have any further delays old bat I suggest you bring that elevator back."

"I have one thing," Present Wily said, vanishing into a storage room and coming back with an object that looked like a mix between a jackhammer and a pogo stick. "Here we are, Sakugarne, I'm sure you'll find him useful." With that he sent Quint on his way and wandered over to inspect the other pod in silence.

"My my, how very sleek," the Past Wily commented, looking Quint over, who was leaning on the dormant Sakugarne with boredom.

"How about we get back to your time so I can start causing pain and misery and you can investigate me later," Quint said.

"I like the way you think Mega- er, Quint," Dr. Wily said as he followed the android into the Wily Machine. It took off and hovered in the air for a time and then, in a flash of blue light, it vanished, returning to the past.


End file.
